Data Expert96 (15)

Breach: Complete all servers in the Tier 2 Network.

Achievement Guide for Data Expert

Achievement won on 20 Sep 16TA Score for this game: 4,899
Posted on 25 September 16 at 18:57, Edited on 15 February 17 at 11:25

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In order to get the Data Expert achievement, you have to clear all 20 regular servers on the Tier 2 Network. The regular servers are the Versalife, Steiner-Bisley and Tarvos servers. You do not have to clear the Darknet servers, reward nodes, hyperlinks, and firewall nodes. You also do not have to clear S21_REBAR immediately below S04_CLAYMORE, S22_REBAR immediately above S17_CLAYMORE, and S23_REBAR immediately above S20_GARRISON. These are not regular Tier 2A servers but are additional servers that were added during a title update. Thanks to beets101 for his insight regarding this issue.

All regular servers are visible upon entry into Tier 2 and you can see them by scrolling while pressing . Any server that is not visible and appears later does not count towards the achievement. To clarify the servers required for the achievement, the following is a video that shows the Tier 2 map and the 20 servers that you have to clear:

Summary of achievement solution:--Finish close to the entry point so you can exit effortlessly.--Avoid combat unless the server objective is to kill enemies.--For prime enemy servers, focus only on the prime enemy and not the riff raff.--Never pay to Revive. If you do not clear a level, replay it and don’t waste the 10K credits that are better spent on packs.--Don’t spend real cash on micro-transactions. You don’t need an arsenal if you avoid combat.

I outlined the basic approach in the Tier 1 Data Disciple Solution: Be systematic. Do some trial runs to learn the maps, enemies, data stores, hazards, unstable blocks, etc. Backwards plan. In other words, work from far to near so as to be close to the exit point (same as entry point) when you acquire the data or enemy kill that satisfies the mission requirement. Unless the mission requirement is to kill enemies, avoid combat where possible. It is time consuming and our goal for the achievement is to simply clear servers as efficiently as possible. Conserve consumables—ammunition, curatives, mines, grenades, etc. Save your premium ammunition (this includes stun rifle ammo thanks as @the games masta points out in the comments) for when you really need it. Standard ammunition is refilled (to a point) whereas premium ammunition is not. The Data Disciple solution can be found here and its contents are relevant to clearing Tier 2 as well:

The servers are more complex, the requirements are more demanding, and the enemies are tougher in Tier 2. However, if you are like me, your learning curve will outpace the increased challenge. I cleared Tier 2 faster than Tier 1 and Tier 3 faster than Tier 2. You should be getting better equipment from your purchases and the reward nodes. My recommendation is to buy only the Elite packs for 50,000 credits. I find they have better ammo and curatives than the 6,000 credit premium packs and they provide you with powerful S class weapons. The Ripper pack is overpriced. The 200K credits the Ripper pack requires could buy you four Elite packs with a much higher probability of S class weapons.

Tier 2 requires better knowledge of the server map; enemy types, locations, and strengths; data stores; unstable blocks; etc. Make trial runs using simple weapons and standard ammunition until you are comfortable with the server. Then, you can switch to your best weapons and use premium ammunition. Since premium ammunition is not restocked, it should not be squandered on trial runs. You do so by choosing Retry or Continue if you fail a server. The latter takes you back to the server screen and you have to reengage it. The former immediately places you at the entry point of the server.

Never pay to retry. It’s very expensive at 10K credits a pop and you may not even clear the server. Even if you do, the benefit is confined to that one server run. In contrast, if you use your credits for packs, you will have continuing benefit as you progress through the server tiers. By the same token, never use real cash on micro-transactions. The best way to get the achievement is through evasion. Micro-transactions are of benefit to players who are climbing the global leaderboards and not achievement hunters. The achievements are best earned through evasion so there is no need to spend real money on expensive equipment and supplies that you will not use.

My recommendation is to use a pistol and a stun rifle most of the time. No matter how powerful the enemy, a stun rifle will incapacitate it with one round. The stun rifle does not have to be S class. I used a B class stun rifle for most of Breach and now have an A class stun rifle but still no S Class. The pistol can use standard, armor piercing, and EMP ammunition. The EMP ammunition will temporarily disable cameras and turrets. You can use the stun rifle and basic pistol as you explore and plan your plan of attack for the server. In fact, in most cases, you may be able to clear the server with just those two weapons. However, if you need greater fire power, once you have finished your reconnaissance runs, you can switch to the S weapon and premium ammunition of your choice.

The disruptor pistol with CTRL Disruptor ammunition is a game changer. A single shot will co-opt an enemy to fight on your side temporarily. Other enemies are attracted to the converted enemy and will fight it rather than you. So, not only do you have a bad guy doing your dirty work, but you can sneak on ahead while other enemies are misdirected—fighting the enemy or enemies you co-opted. Unfortunately, the CTRL Disruptor ammunition is very rare so you have to be judicious in its use. S14_TALONPIKE is a large, complex server with many enemies. You might find that the disruptor pistol with the CTRL Disruptor ammunition is the difference between success and failure.

Ultimately, though, you should play to your strengths. There is no single best weapon or plan of attack for any server. Use what you are most comfortable with. Familiarity with the server is the most valuable weapon. Once you know the lay of the land, the server becomes much less challenging and you can quickly accomplish the minimum requirements to clear it. Servers that appear difficult at first become much less challenging after you have scouted them a few times and know what you are up against.

Remember to plan to get the final requirement to satisfy the server objectives close to the entry point. Since the exit point is always the same as the entry point, you can make a quick dash and finish matters off. The exception is one of the few servers that features an abyss like S13_CORTEX. You can jump into the abyss when you have satisfied the server requirements and you will respawn at the entrance/exit point. So, you can exit simply by jumping into the Abyss and respawning at the exit point. It costs a small amount of health so you must have a modest amount of health remaining for this technique to work.

I feel you can clear all three tiers with the basic cloak, high jump, and triple jump augments. I consider these to be almost essential. Other augments should depend on your personal preference—more efficient use of energy for the cloak, greater health, Icarus dash, punch through walls, etc. I have found that the Smart Vision augment is of use during trial runs to help spot hidden servers (some servers do not appear on your map), enemies, secret passages, weak walls, etc.

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